A Shift In Focus

For the past year, I’ve been in a rut. In my Maskcara business, in the blogging world, across my social media, and even within myself. I felt like I was failing over and over again in so many aspects of my life and couldn’t figure out how to fix any of it. August was a great month. I’m so much happier, I’m a better wife, a better mom, my business is doing better than it ever has been, so many new and exciting opportunities are coming my way and all I did was one thing…I MADE A SHIFT IN MY FOCUS.

I’m going to be honest here for a minute, self-help books make me roll my eyes. Y’all, I am not a reader and never have been. Again being honest here, I hate reading and honestly don’t have time for it, so audio books have been a lifesaver for me. I can pop in my earbuds and listen to any book I want while cleaning the house, taking a walk, or driving to Target. I have tried and tried and tried to read (listen to) books to better myself, my life, and my business. I usually can’t get through the first chapter without turning it off and putting on my music or the latest true crime podcast. I just can’t relate to them, they’re usually super canned and I can’t apply their message to my life. If you’ve even been on social media for like ten seconds, I’m sure you’ve seen someone post about the latest self-help craze Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believe the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be by Rachel Hollis. I fought the urge to download this one for a looooong time, just knowing it was going to be another failed attempt like all the rest. To my surprise though, just the introduction had me wanting to read more. I mean her opening line is “Hey girl, hey!” so I knew immediately I was going to like this girl. She had me almost in tears as I listened to her read her own introduction to me, calling me friend and telling me all these things I believe about myself are LIES. Y’all, this book is life-changing. I finished the entire thing in just over a week. If I had the time, I would’ve listened to the whole thing in just one day. IT’S THAT GOOD! Every single chapter, I was able to apply to my life in some way. Even the chapters about her experience adopting a daughter and her life as a foster parent I was able to pull something from it for myself. This book is where the shift of focus began for me in my personal life and in turn that shift snowballed to every other aspect of my life. If you haven’t already, go grab yourself a copy of Girl, Wash Your Face. If you’ve already read it, read it again, I know I’m going to.

As far as social media goes, I’ve been struggling to come up with and post meaningful content across all channels. For the past year, I feel like I have been falling short again and again. My engagement has been so hit or miss and the more I strived for bigger and better, the more I felt like I was coming up shorter and shorter. I kept racking my brain, what is the problem? What is everyone else doing that I’m not? I “attended” an online Instagram training with an amazing soul on my Maskcara team. She talked about things I already knew, but for some reason I listened to her words in a new light this time. Why are you on social media? I felt like she was speaking straight to me. She said to stop being selfish on social media, you’re not there for yourself but for your followers. What do they want to see, not what you want to post. Once you figure that out, both things will collide and what you want to post will become what they want to see. That was it, that was my problem! I was so focused on coming up with content for me I completely forgot about my followers. What made them click that follow button? and what makes them stay? I realized that my niche on Instagram, is family life and motherhood. When I began to keep those little squares centered around that, not only did my engagement skyrocket I began gaining new followers by the dozens. Not to mention the amazing new friends I have made. I’m beginning to create an Instagram community, something I should’ve been aiming to do all along. A beautiful community of women, of mamas, of friends. Because of this switch in my Instagram focus, new opportunities are knocking on my door. Opportunities that I am so excited to share with all of you. I also realized that my following across all my social channels is different. They come to my Instagram for motherhood, my FB page and group for beauty & style and my blog for a little bit of everything. You guys, this realization has been everything. Not only do I feel like I can better connect with my following, it’s so much easier to come up with good and meaningful content across my channels. Now that I know what y’all want, it’s become fun again. Social media has been a chore for the past year, but now it’s back to being my fun side gig.

Y’all, this shift within myself and my thinking has changed the game for me. If you’re in a similar place within yourself, start Girl, Wash Your FaceRIGHT NOW! I promise you, it’s not just another self-help book. Rachel is so raw and real and relatable. And I love the audio book because she’s the one reading it. You can truly capture her tone and I feel like it brings in a whole new element to the book. If you’re in a similar place with social media, ask yourself the questions I asked myself. What made them click that follow button? and what makes them stay? Once you figure that out, what you want to post and what your followers want to see will be the exact same.

If you’re where I was, I pray that these words will help you. I know what a strange feeling it is to be lost within yourself. I was stuck there for an entire year and couldn’t break free until I made the conscious decision to shift my focus and I’m so much happier because of it.